


The Elevator Ride Down

by sydkneemacc



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Angst, Author Doesn’t Know How To Tag, Canon Compliant, Canon Gay Relationship, Canon-Typical Violence, Depressed Booker | Sebastien le Livre, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Hurt/Comfort, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani Needs a Hug, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani and Nicky | Nicolò di Genova are in Love, M/M, Mentions of Blood, Mentions of Sex, Minor Character Death, Nicky | Nicolò di Genova Needs a Hug, but i’m just a better fluff writer, i tried writing angst, joe and nicky centric, this is not Booker redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 10:14:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28686948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sydkneemacc/pseuds/sydkneemacc
Summary: What transpired in the elevator ride down Merrick’s building between Joe and Nicky while Booker is in the corner regretting his decisions.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 10
Kudos: 260





	The Elevator Ride Down

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to my tog discord friends who beta read it <3
> 
> comments are greatly appreciated and basically fuel my desire to write more so you should definitely leave some :)
> 
> i’m also on tumblr @sydkneemacc

———

It was silent, except for the nauseating sound of elevator music playing on repeat. The tension was palpable. Booker was leaning in one corner of the elevator with his hands in his head. 

_Good_ . Joe thought. He was enraged. Actually, _enraged_ wasn’t a strong enough word for the emotions he felt towards Booker. His brother. His own brother betrayed them. 

A cold touch of fingertips against Joe’s forearm brought him out of his messy thoughts. Nicky. His Nicoló. Joe turned his head to face his beloved so fast he got whiplash. His love’s eyes were tired. Eyes as beautiful as those shouldn’t look that sad. Joe grabbed Nicoló’s hand and pulled it into his chest. He looked down at the flakes of dried blood on his own palm as they rubbed against the dried blood on his love’s. Joe longed to be in the bath with him, slowly massaging the bloody mess out of Nicky’s hair, off his chest and arms. 

But that couldn’t happen yet. Instead, they were stuck in the elevator with the man who betrayed them. Nicky was squeezing his hand and once again it drew Joe from his own mind. 

“Amore mio, guardami, per favore,” Nicky whispered. 

Joe turned his gaze from their intertwined hands and looked at Nicky. He had to bite his tongue to keep down the bile that was rising in his throat. Dried blood matted Nicky’s hair down and it crusted around his forehead. The back and sides of his love’s neck was sticky from sweat and still-drying blood. Joe scanned Nicky’s eyes. Oh how he loved Nicky’s eyes. Eyes that were the muse of so many of Joe’s paintings and poetry. Eyes that Joe would get lost in in the early mornings. When the sun would hit Nicky’s face just right and make those eyes swirl and change color like sea glass. But now Nicky’s eyes were dull, haunted by the events that had occurred in the recent hour. 

“Hayati,” Joe whispered. Nicky squeezed his hand again. “Nicoló, how do you feel?” 

Nicky looked at him and took a step closer. The elevator was large but it seemed so small now that they were nearly touching noses. 

“I am ok, Yusuf. I’m alive. Sono qui,” Nicky replied back in an equally low voice. 

Yes. Nicky was alive but Joe could hardly shake fear and anguish he felt when that bastard shot his love. 

“It took you a minute. To- to come back.” Joe’s voice was uncharacteristically shaky as he touched his forehead against Nicky’s. 

Nicky hummed in agreement. “I’m sorry for scaring you.” His voice was raw, as if his mouth was still rebuilding itself. Joe pushed that garish thought down. 

“I’m just glad you’re back,” Joe replied. He tucked his hand into his sleeve and reached up. Nikcy stared at him as Joe began to wipe the drying blood of Nicky’s neck. 

_Smoke covering the room. The sound of fighting as Joe came back to consciousness. Nicky’s grunt as he was thrown against a rack._

Joe continued to scrape the blood away. 

_The masked man who had kidnapped them. Keane. Was that his name? Doesn’t matter. Grab. Throw. Grab his mask. Get a hit. Just get a hit on him._

Joe could feel Nicky’s hand tighten around his. 

_A punch to the face. A hit to the throat. Joe fell back. Nicky grabbed the other man. He has a gun. Nicky, he has a gun._

Joe’s sleeve was sticky and red. He became acutely aware of Booker in the corner as he heard a sharp intake of breath. He stayed focused on Nicky. On Nicky’s blood that now covered his sleeve. 

_The man has Nicky on the floor. Get up Joe. GET UP._

Nicky’s body is pressed against his now. Breathing deeply as Joe continued to clean him up. 

_Keane pulls Nicky’s hair back. Knee on his chest. Knocks the air out. Puts the gun in Nicky’s mouth. No. Please no. A gunshot. Silence. Joe can feel himself scream. Nicky doesn’t get up._

“Sei buono con me, cuore mio,” Nicky whispers. 

Joe stopped wiping. “I should have stopped him,” he replied. Defeat is discernible in his voice. “What if- what if that was your final one. What if you didn’t-”.

Nicky cuts him off. “Stop that. Yusuf please. We are destined to go together. I would never leave you. We entered this life together and that is how we will leave it.” His voice is firm but adoration seeped through the cracks. Like sunbeams through a barely opened window. 

Joe chuckled. Of course Nicky would say something completely reasonable like that. He was right. His husband was always right when it came to this matter. They had died next to each other the very first time. Hands nearly touching. Their weapons lodged deep inside the other. And in their final death that is how they will go. Minus the weapons this time. 

But still. The feelings didn’t fade instantly. The horror, the pain, the raw sense of loss Joe felt. Nicky’s death at the hands of that man was horrifyingly intimate. 

_Joe, crawling over to his body. Deafening silence broken only by Joe’s own quiet sobs. His hands. What should do with his hands? Where should he put them? On Nicky’s unmoving arms. Cupping his now bloodied face._

Booker let out a long exhale. Joe turned to him. Furious. They stared at each other for a moment. Two. Booker opened his mouth like he wanted to say something. Joe turned away before he got a chance. 

“This will be a nightmare to get out of my hair,” Nicky laughed softly. 

Joe gave a small smile in return. “We will take an extra long shower, habibi. You can rest against me and I will do the work.”

Nicky leaned forward. Joe brought his forehead against his once more. 

“Things will be different now,” Nicky said, all traces of laughter gone as he side eyed Booker. 

Joe caught his chin in his hand. “Yes, yes. They definitely will be. We will deal with it when we are out of this devastatingly tall building.” He tilted his head and captured Nicky’s lips with his own. His love tasted like metal and salt. Blood and sweat. 

Nicky hummed into the kiss before deepening it. It was slow and long. Though filled with the passion of nine hundred plus years it felt calm and grounding. The kiss served as a reminder to the both of them that they were alive. That they were still together. Nicky brought a hand up and tangled it in Joe’s matted hair. 

Joe couldn’t help but grin as he kissed back even harder. By the time they separated they were both breathing heavier than before. Nicky’s face was slightly flushed and Joe was reminded of all the times he saw Nicky’s face like how it was now. 

As Nicky woke slowly, leisurely. When they didn’t have the fear that they were going to be attacked. When Joe would stare at him as he painted or sketched. Singing the praises of his muse. Right after sex, when they would lay down next to each and envelope themselves in each other’s arms, panting slightly. Exchanging “I love yous” even though words weren’t enough to profess their love for each other. 

But now, like the bath, all of that would have to wait. 

The elevator was moving slowly and the music had changed to a melancholic tune. Joe and Nicky were leaning with their foreheads pressed against each other. Joe’s sleeve was sticky with blood but at least that meant that it was no longer on Nicky. 

_Nicky gasping back to life. Joe falls with the weight of the breath he exhaled in relief. Touch him. Hold him. Make sure he’s alive and you’re not just dreaming._

Joe cupped Nicky’s face with his hands. “Together till the end, my love.”

Nicky smiled at him and kissed him gently on the nose. “We will be infinite.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> i don’t speak Italian so i had to use google translate for the Italian parts :)


End file.
